While one faction of one party in one branch of government holds the country hostage over their animosity toward Obamacare, it is hard not to get completely frustrated over the central fact that is missed in the whole mess: American jobs are lost.

How is it that all political rhetoric about employment in this country is about job creation–getting that stubbornly high unemployment rate down–and yet Congress has allowed the government to shut down, temporarily (we can hope) terminating almost two million jobs altogether?

Emily Wax-Thibodeaux has some excellent reporting in the Washington Post regarding the real consequences of the shutdown vis-a-vis jobs. Check out her article on the community of Florissant, Missouri, which has suffered substantially in the past few days and, unfortunately, will suffer for the foreseeable future.

Or until our government pulls it together and opens shop again.

The House of Representatives passed a budget, so did the Senate. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) has issued 18 invitations over the last several months for a conference committee to resolve the differences between the two budgets. Each of those requests were ignored by leaders in the House.

It’s time to reopen the government, raise the debt ceiling, then come together and find a budget that will bring more jobs to the millions of Americans who are itching to do meaningful work once again.

Onward.